Bureau liasons
by syngrafeas
Summary: FBI cyber division found Mark Barns, somewhere in Russia. The BAU and their international counterparts are called in to find him before something happens. 1 OC.
1. Chapter 1

Emily was looking forward to a quiet weekend after that super hectic week. They had been to Ohio for a homicide and this was her first case as unit chief. _Hotch was so much better at this,_ she thought. Dealing with the authorities there was tough- they just **wouldn't** co-operate! But Emily knew that she had to get used to this until Hotch was back from WITSEC. _Tring-ring! Tring-ring!_ The intercom in her office rang.

"Hello? This is FBI BAU Unit chief Emily Prentiss." The voice on the other end said, "Emily Prentiss? This is Agent Jack Garrett from the IRT. We have a case our teams have to work together on." Emily was mildly surprised. She had heard of the IRT from Rossi- They were profilers as well- but for international cases- and they had a huge plane. "Great," she replied, "Can you meet us in our conference room?" "Sure thing," came the reply from the other end and the line went off.

Emily groaned inwardly. _A peaceful weekend. Like you'll ever get that._ She walked into the bullpen and gave JJ, Reid, Morgan, and Garcia the _case look_ and walked to the conference room. Rossi followed from his cabin. "Guys- we are liaising with the International response team. And... We have to work this weekend." She could see the disappointment in her team's faces as their weekend plans broke in a million pieces. And she plopped down on the chair. "Who's briefing the case?" Reid asked.

"We." Came the reply from someone just entering the room. The BAU looked up to see Jack Garrett, Matt Simmons, Mae Jarvis, and Clara Seger, and Russ Montgomery. Matt and Mae were engrossed in some conversation, undoubtedly about who got to ride the bike. _Yes,_ Emily thought, _who gets to ride the bike argument was known throughout the bureau._

"Russia. Mark Berns and his son, Dalton. Disappeared from Washington, D.C seven months ago. Last night, the bureau's cyber division found this" He pulled out a picture of a man tied to a chair. The thin dark haired woman, Clara Seger, said, " CCTV records show Mark and his son boarding a flight to Barcelona, and now we have this."

"Well, good thing you speak Russian, Emily." Reid said half heartedly. Prentiss shot him a _look_ look. "Wait- wait- you're Emily Prentiss?" Clara stated in disbelief. Prentiss nodded along. "The dead agent whose frame had to be removed from the wall of remembrance because she wasn't really dead. She was just pretending. And you are?" Both the teams introduced themselves. Well, everyone except Garcia and Monty. They knew each other.

Reid: And I'm Dr. Spencer Reid.

Mae: Ooooooooohhh! I know you! You're the BAU's baby genius!

Reid: Not the words I would use to describe myself.. As you know- that term is generally applied to humans under one year of age... But...

Reid looked flustered and both the teams laughed. "So, whose plane?" Rossi started walking out and muttered, "Has to remind me of that every single time." The teams good naturedly laughed. "So you speak 11 languages?" Emily asked Clara. "13 now, after my sabbatical. I added Thai and Creole to the mix. You're not bad yourself. From what I hear, that is. Umm... CIA's detainee? Was going to launch anthrax? You speak Arabic." Emily laughed. " Yeah...that was one of my first cases."

"You're Jennifer Jareau, right? Heard a lot about you." Mae said as they were walking towards the plane. "Only good stuff, I hope." Jennifer laughed. "Does being on the manhunt for terrorists for the state department count as good stuff? Cuz I definitely might count that in good stuff. Because for me, getting to ride the bike might count as good stuff." JJ frowned. "Why don't you get to ride the bike?" Mae turned red. "I may or may not have a license." JJ laughed.

Jack saw _The BAU's baby genius,_ as Mae had so kindly put it, walking towards the plane alone. "Hey Doc." He said, because he had introduced him first as doctor, not agent. Spencer looked at him and shot him the brightest of smiles. "Just thinking of a Russian movie I saw a few years ago."

Rossi simply looked at the IRT's plane in despair. _Why do they get such a nice plane?_ "Jealous, Rossi?" He heard Morgan walking with Simmons along with their Go-bags in the aeroplane. "Can't blame me, can you?" he smirked slightly and went to join the others inside.

Once everyone was inside, they faced the TV in which Monty and Garcia were giving them any information which might be related to Mark and Dalton Berns when Jack's cell rang.

"Yes-yes- So, now? OK." Jack turned to face the others and told them, "Director has sent the IRT another member. Previously CSI." The CSI, Kayla Zurich, came 5 minutes later and introduced herself. "You know about the case, I hope?" Matt asked as the Turquoise haired woman settled herself on a seat. She nodded.

"So, what do we know about Berns and his son?" Morgan asked Monty and Garcia who struggled to fit in the monitor. " Well," Garcia said, " Mark Berns works as a bank teller, and his son goes to the nearby school. I can find very little about both of them. They mostly used cash. Although I can tell you from their online purchases, little 7-year old Dalton is very interested in Nintendo. Multiple CDs have been delivered to their address." Emily said, " Garcia, do the Berns' have any connection to Russia?" Monty replied, " Glad you asked. Mark Berns' grandfather, Alexei Gulin immigrated to the states in 1934 from Russia."

"Ну пойдем." Emily said.

Translation: Well, let's go.


	2. Chapter 2

"Remember, the Russians may not like us interfering, so don't mind the cold shoulder." Jack said as they were nearing the end of their flight. "Yeah…" Emily said, "Russian attitude towards Americans-not the best."

Spencer said, "Well, it's no surprise. The generation gap in Russia is pretty wide. The older generation is probably still mad about the cold war. The younger generation knows about Americans only through television. We are usually associated with hamburgers, coke, etc." Kayla, the CSI added, "Not to mention, Hollywood usually portrays them as villains. With love from Russia, Bridge of spies, salt, anti- satellite strike in Gravity, all the movies on KGB, yadda yadda yadda." Emily shrugged. "Sounds like a vacation."

Nikolai Petrov, the liaison from the Russian police department was actually quite welcoming. He was driving one of the cars back to the police station, when he said, "I am afraid the others at the station will not be quite welcoming. They think that you all think that all of us work for the Bratva." Kayla smiled, not looking up from her laptop, "You don't?" Nikolai gave a smug grin. "No. I went to university in America. Not all of you are bad. It's just the movie directors who paint us as the mafia." Kayla chuckled. "So is that why you're the liaison? You're the only one who doesn't think of us as rich, narcissistic people?" Nikolai replied, "Maybe. But don't get me wrong. All of us are glad for the help. The media would do anything to put us in the wrong side. If the word was that an American was kidnapped in Russia and the Russian police didn't want the FBI coming in, field day."

"First thing we have to do," JJ said at the police station, "is to retrace Berns' steps. Why was he in Barcelona? Where did he go after that?" Everyone nodded in agreement. Jack said, " Clara and Kayla, I want you to examine previous case files to see if there has been anything like this before." Emily gave orders to Garcia, Monty, Morgan, and JJ, "I want you to see what happened after he boarded the Barcelona flight." Reid shook his head. "Hey, this is probably too late to ask this, but how do we know Berns is in Russia?" Mae said, "The bureau's analysts found that photo on a deep web website, which was Russian. When they tried to trace it, despite the proxies, what they did find out was that all the proxy servers were in Russia."

"Icky yucky mucky. Why did Berns go to Barcelona in the first place?" Garcia said as she typed something on her computer going through airline reservations. "Hey! Look. Berns boarded the flight to Barcelona, but on that day, no tickets were registered in his name. He's using aliases?" Monty said. "Well," JJ said through the speaker phone, "Look for passengers who hadn't booked a return ticket." "Uh-Huh, narrowed it down to 8 passengers." Morgan said, "Now who had booked their tickets together? Because we know that he had a ticket for his son too." "Got it!" Monty yelled. "Jasper and Jeff McBride." JJ said, "Any chance you've been multitasking?" Garcia grinned an evil grin. "Of course. They booked a ticket to Russia under the same name a few days after, but another person was added. Maggie Brett. Now I can tell with my superpowers that Maggie isn't an alias, but the name of Mark's ex-wife. She too, has Russian roots. Her grandfather was a soviet soldier back in WWII and among the confusion at the end of the war, came to New York and settled there." "I think we have a connection."Morgan said, stating the obvious.

"Hey! Look at this." Clara told Kayla and passed her a file. "Sasha Gregory. Was naturalized a year ago, she had come here because she wanted to stay close to her Russian roots. 2 months after her naturalization and living in , poof!" Kayla ran her hand through her bright blue hair and said, "So we have an immigrant hating kidnapper, maybe killer?"

"Looks like it" said Emily as she and Jack entered the station.

Kayla's face brightened, "The Immigrantovich kidnapper/killer."


	3. Chapter 3

"It's night now. Let's go to the hotel and get some rest." Emily finally said. They had gone through loads of similar cases and titbits to find Mark and Dalton Berns, and Maggie Brett. Kayla and Mae were so far useless, because there was only so much a CSI and ME could do without a crime scene and a body.

Kayla had taken a warm shower to neutralise the effects the cold temperature had had on her body, and was now in her bathrobe, updating her Tumblr blog, _crazedbibliophileandcinephile_. At that time, her cell beeped.

 **You have 1 new message.**

 **Jack Garrett: We have a body and a crime scene. Meet us in the hotel lobby. ASAP.**

 **You: OMW.**

Mark Berns' dead body was found in a dilapidated bungalow which was now cordoned off. Mae and Kayla were the ones going over everything in the empty room with only the cold body of Mark Berns. "I can't tell the COD now. But I would guess some kind of poison, because there aren't any signs of physical damage. I'll have to take him to the lab though." Mae said. She looked around the room to check if she had missed anything, when she gasped. On one of the walls was written the word: _**DESERTER**_ in blood. Kayla pulled out her phone and took several photographs of the word from several different angles, and then they went out to meet with the rest of the team. "Mr. Petrov, Do you have a crime lab where we can work?" Mae asked their liaison Nikolai, who was still groggy and annoyed at being woken up at 3am. "Yes .I will send one of my men to transport you and the body to the lab first thing in the morning."

"Looks like our UnSub had a SUV." Kayla said from outside the yellow taped area. Everyone looked at her with confused expressions. "You measured the depth and area of the tire marks, Pressure is force per unit area?" Reid asked her. "Average mass of an SUV. Give or take maybe, 100-150 kgs depending on the person sitting inside. Also, our UnSub is approximately 5'10." "How do you know his height?" Morgan asked. "As Arthur Conan Doyle pointed out so kindly in ' _A study in scarlet',_ 'when a man writes on a wall, instinct leads him to write just above eye level." Kayla answered distracted.

"Утром собирайте своих офицеров. Мы готовы предоставить профиль." Emily told Nikolai Petrov.

 _Translation: Gather your officers in the morning. We are ready to give a profile._

Ilya Fedunov had arrived to the station early today. The Americans were working on their case, and his senior, Nikolai Petrov had told him and his mates that the Feds would be giving a profile today. The entire station was sitting and the old-ish man, who introduced himself as David Rossi started giving the profile.

"The UnSub, or Unknown Subject in this case, is mostly a nationalist. He is hunting those whose ancestors left the country during the war times, which leads us to believe that someone close to him too has left the country and he is now facing abandonment issues. We do not need to go to psychiatric centers because this kind of person isn't likely to share his problems. He is independent, will not go to anyone for help."

"Anyone strikes to your mind?" the Blonde woman asked them. A murmur ran through the crowd. Ilya reluctantly raised his hand. "Yes?" "I-I'm not sure, but could it be someone from Дезертир?"

The two brunettes looked confused. "Deserter?" the one called Emily Prentiss asked. "Yes, yes," Nikolai told her, "Deserter is a support group of sorts, for those who lost their relatives due to such reasons in the WWII."

Mae came in then. "I have determined the time of death as between midnight and 1am, and the COD, which I found surprising, is Diphosgene." Reid spoke up. "Diphosgene was used as a chemical weapon in the world war. If our UnSub was deserted in the world war, it's no surprise that he might use Diphosgene. It relates to his history."

Jack's phone rang. "Monty. Garcia. What do you have for us?" "Yeah. So we were digging into Mark Berns' life, and you, are not going to believe us when we say this to you", Garcia spoke fast with the background noise of her keyboard like white noise to both the teams' ears, "We thought Jasper and Jeff McBride were aliases, but Jasper was caught up in some internet scam last year, when a black hat used his photo and the name of Mark Berns for a shelf baby." "We also found out that Jasper's relatives still live in Russia. He might just have wanted to visit them." Monty continued.

"Garcia," JJ told her, "Send us everything you have on a group called Дезертир"

"That Intel is on your way. PG out."

 **A/N: Forgive me if any of my information or profile is wrong; I am a writer not a profiler; That 'support group' doesn't exist; or maybe it does, but this one is my imagination. Also, if any disrespect is caused, I sincerely apologise.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello, have a great day! Mentioned in my previous chapter, a black hat is a bad hacker; white hat is a good hacker. Shelf babies are made-up people who are given birth certificates, driver licenses, medical records, and are created by black hats. I have absolutely NO idea how to reply to a guest review. Also, I have not been saying this enough; I do not own Criminal minds or any part it. I guess that was 3 chapters due. Ciao and REVIEW! Puh-lease!**

* * *

Morgan's cell beeped. "Baby girl? Tell me you've got something. I'm putting you on speaker. Behave," he said as everyone crowded around him. First they could only hear fast keyboard clicking noises, but then Garcia spoke. "So, the organisation slash support group you asked me to search about? My cup of tea, Monty's piece of cake. We got a list of everyone in it, ran background checks and stuff and came up empty. You're gonna have to help me narrow this down, so we can go through every individuals file."

"Garcia our UnSub has access to diphosgene, so narrow that down to anyone who works in the chemistry field, has access to chemicals, et cetera." Reid told her. "Right away. Narrowed it down to...uhhh 12 people. Sending them to you right away. Garcia and Montgomery out." There was a click. "We have to catch this UnSub fast. He's likely to hit again, and we have to be ready for him." Jack warned everyone, including Nikolai. "I'm afraid, even if one of those people among the 12 fits your profile, you will need forensic evidence or a confession or catch him red-handed. A profile would not do any good in a court. I hope you find your killer." Emily muttered sarcastically. "Yeah. Me too." "Oh! I got Monty's e-mail!" Mae said, breaking the awkward silence caused by Prentiss' remark.

"Hey! I found 2 people who fit the profile." Reid said, seconds after he had started reading. "Whoa. You just started reading!" Kayla exclaimed. "Well, along with my I.Q of 187, I also have an eidetic memory and I can read 80,000 words in a minute." "That is SO cool! I always wished I had an eidetic memory though. It would've been so easy to go through school, college, university... I have to say, I'm jealous of you." She said dreamily. "It's not that easy. I was bullied in school." Reid said trying to downplay his intelligence. "That's because your bullies were scared of you. Jealous of you. I mean, how could they _ever_ compete with this guy?! They just bullied you to...make themselves feel better." Kayla said. "You sound like you're speaking from experience." Reid asked Kayla, who was now staring expressionlessly at the file. "Hey! You're not the only one people were jealous of! I was smart too. Just not as smart as you and not... as skinny," Kayla told him with an amused grin, "Besides, in India, better marks make you more popular, so I was safe until I turned 11 and moved to the States." JJ interrupted, "I hate to interrupt you kids, but start working!" Both of them muttered angrily. "I'm not a kid!" Morgan chuckled. "Yeah. Sure you're not. Kayla – your personnel file says you're 24. That's a kid to me."

"Who fits the profile Reid?" Rossi asked him ignoring Morgan and JJ who were laughing at the _kids._ "Yes. I've got Albert Ivanov and Mikhail Popov. Albert's grandfather was a WWI soldier, left behind in a siege, and then went on many undocumented adventures and in the end, landed up in the states. What he forgot, was his wife and unborn son back in a village near Moscow. That son grew up detached from the world and his son, Albert. Mikhail's grandmother was a nurse. She too settled in the States. Her son, Mikhail's father, then tried to find her in the States but never came back. As a result Mikhail was left alone with his PTSD and company deprived mother. Albert Ivanov is a chemical engineer and Mikhail is a doctor and chemist."

"Nikolai? What's the plan?" Jack asked the police officer who was quietly listening to Reid. "Well, both of them have a high social standing. I would love to take them in for questioning but my seniors would be more worried about their Albert and Mikhail's lawyers."

"Hey! Look what I found!" Emily said coming into the office with some papers.


	5. Chapter 5

"Listen to me," Emily said giddy with excitement, "I was going through CCTV footage, and I found out that Mark Berns' last movement was getting in a train going from Moscow. The other American case we connected to this, Sasha Gregory, had also booked a ticket on that train last year, right before she went missing." "So this train is our UnSub's hunting ground." Matt said.

A junior officer came in. "Petrov-Sir has asked to meet with you." Nikolai went out to meet with his seniors. "Yes sir?" Nikolai asked his boss. "You think your suspects are Albert Ivanov and Mikhail Popov?" his stern faced boss asked him. "If we confront them or take them in custody, the media will come to know about it. We cannot let the media know about this AT ALL COSTS! Do you understand?" "Yes. What do you suggest we do?"Nikolai asked meekly. "I don't know. Do what you must. I want this _Immigrantovich killer_ caught too." Nikolai exited his senior's cabin and told the Americans what his senior had told.

"Well, we can still talk to them without taking them in custody, right?" JJ said. "I guess..." Nikolai said. "Then we're going." Jack said, grabbing his badge and gun from the table, the others except Reid and Kayla following suit. "STOP!" Nikolai exclaimed. "You cannot go like this! You have to go peacefully, only to talk. And everybody shouldn't go, that will be like -like- blatantly telling them that they are the killers!" Everyone put their creds back. "I'm going. I speak Russian." Emily said. "Me too." Clara said. "Matt and Morgan, go with each of them. Two of ours should be more than enough for them." Jack commanded.

Albert Ivanov's workplace was in a chemical plant where Emily, Matt, and Inspector Petrov were heading. They met a security guard outside the plant where Nikolai asked him a question in Russian. "Где мы можем найти Альберта Иванова?"

 _Translation: Where can we find Albert Ivanov?_

The guards spoke back in Russian and pointed to the second floor of the building. One wouldn't need to know Russian to know that the guard meant the second floor. "Albert Ivanov?" Nikolai knocked on the door. "Come in!" came a distant reply.

Albert Ivanov was sitting on a plush reclining office chair behind a desk in a glamorously decorated office and seemed easy going against the pressure Prentiss put against him.

Prentiss: We would like to search your office, Mr. Ivanov.

Albert Ivanov with an easy going smile: Do you have a search warrant, Miss- err

Prentiss: Name's Prentiss. And why would you care about a warrant? Do you have something to hide?

Albert Ivanov laughing uncontrollably: Of course not! That would be scandalous! It is just that… as police, you should be the ones upholding the law. _Now suddenly serious and with a cold voice._ Now do you have a search warrant, Miss Prentiss and her bodyguard?!

Prentiss pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket with a smirk and gave it to Ivanov. Ivanov made the open arms gesture and invited Prentiss and Matt to search his office. Nothing. Emily and team went out empty handed.

Clara and Morgan weren't too lucky either. Mikhail owned a private clinic. Morgan's phone rang when they were going to enter. "I'll be right back. It's Prentiss." Clara entered alone. Mikhail was a tall, handsome man with dark hair and muscular arms. "Hello. How may I entertain you?" he asked with a seductive smile. Clara decided to play along. "I'm Agent Seger from the FBI. I'm here to investigate the murder of an American." with the same provocative tone of voice. "How can I assist you? Mikhail asked her, raising his arms. "Well, some people think you committed the murder," Clara paused and looked for any expressions that reveal anything, "I'm here to clear your name." she said with a smile and started walking towards him with swishing hips. "Well, Agent Seger, I'm afraid you don't need to," with the same tone of voice, "I'm innocent." Mikhail got up, walked towards her and asked, "Need my assistance with anything else?" Clara was about to blow up with all the fake smiles, but managed to say, "Not now. But I will probably need it sometime later, so expect a call… or something." deciding not to completely blow off a lead.

Clara was fuming and thinking _I have never been so out of character. Also, Mikhail stinks of guilt. It's him._ When Prentiss came in, they both said together, "It's Ivanov," and "It's Mikhail"


	6. Chapter 6

"Maybe they're in this together?" Kayla suggested tentatively. "Yeah. Could be- they would've met at that support group, both of them have easy access to chemicals, _and_ both of them have the same feelings for Americans" Morgan said.

"Who's the best hacker in the world?" Garcia asked through the speaker phone. "It's always been you, baby girl. What have you got?"Morgan asked. "Right, You are not gonna believe me, but- ready for drum roll, Monty? Mikhail Popov booked a ticket in that same train that was the hunting ground for our UnSub five minutes ago." The team got a sudden jolt. Kayla was sitting in a _draw me like one of your French girl_ poses on Emily's hotel room's couch, JJ and Morgan were sitting on the edge of her bed, Rossi and Reid were sitting on each of the couch's armrests and into deep thought, Emily was pacing. "Hey! Make space!" Mae said as she nudged Kayla, who was taking up all the space on the couch. "It's not my fault you decided to meet at midnight!" Kayla said as she reluctantly slid her legs towards her making space for Mae and Clara. "Why are we meeting at midnight anyways?!" Kayla said sleepily. "We are nocturnal creatures." Reid told her. "I think best at night. We are brainstorming." Kayla rolled her eyes.

"We bait him." JJ said. Everyone looked towards her. "What?! We can't touch Mikhail without evidence, and he is clean as a whistle. If we bait him, he won't be able to resist! It has worked so far..." Morgan scrunched his forehead and said, "Except with Elle. Anyways, we will talk about it in the morning with Inspector Petrov. Let's get to bed now."

"Ridiculous! He know that the Feds are onto him, why will he ever do anything now?!" was Nikolai's first reaction to the idea. Emily sighed, "He will not be able to resist. The temptations will overcome his will power." Nikolai calmed down. "So, who will go? I would send one of my undercover officers, but I think our killer can identify between Russians and Americans." "So it has to be one of us." Jack said. "Emily, Clara can't go. If our friend Al and Mikhail are working in cahoots, both of you are compromised. Since Mikhail knows that FBI's onto him, Rossi, Simmons, Morgan, Me, or JJ can't go." Morgan frowned. "Why can't we go?" Reid suppressed a smile and Kayla sniggered. "What's wrong?" Morgan asked. "You can't go because you _look_ like the FBI, all muscles, and secret agent-y." Reid said with an amused look. Kayla stopped suppressing her laugh and giggled. "That leaves Mae, Reid, and Kayla." Kayla groaned and put her head in her hands. "I **know** I shouldn't have dyed my hair blue." She looked around at the others. "I am kind of the obvious choice for baiting him, am I not?" Emily smirked. "Well, the hair will draw the UnSub towards you. Reid?" Reid groaned too. "Alright. So me and Kayla will go together?" Reid seemed happy by the fact that someone was coming with him. "Yes. Undercover as a couple." Morgan teased. Kayla rolled her eyes. "Ignore them, Reid. I sure am used to more bullying than this." She said in a fake sad puppy voice.

"Are you warm enough?" Emily asked as Kayla got up. Kayla looked at Emily, JJ, Mae, and Clara who stood around her. "2 layers of thermal bodywear, a turtleneck, _and_ an ankle length parka. Yeah- I think I'm warm enough." Kayla said sarcastically.

"You warm, Pretty boy?" Morgan said after fitting Reid into another jacket. Reid looked around at Morgan, Rossi, Jack, and Matt and said, "Yeah, I think so." Reid tried walking around in his regular clothes, plus 4 sweaters. "I look like a penguin!" He said.

"I hope the plan is clear." Emily said to Reid and Kayla. "Strike up a conversation with Mikhail, whose seat is opposite yours in the train, let him know that you're American. We will be on standby, and even though you have earphones in which you can hear us, pretend you are doing something on your phone when texting us. I hpe you know how to act. Your car is only occupied with you 3. Stay careful, stay alert, break a leg."

"Wait! Wait!" Nikolai yelled as Kayla and Reid were about to depart. "Here," handing each of them a speaker and a heart rate moniter. "Put these on. We will hear everything you say, and will know your heart rate, pulse." Reid took them in hand and put them on. Looking at Kayla, he asked, "Ready?"

"As much as I can ever be."


	7. Chapter 7

**UnSub POV**

They think I will take the bait. They think I am dumb-like themselves. They have played right into my game. But they do not know, in chess, the person who makes the second to last mistake wins.

 **UnSub** **POV**

Kayla and Reid sat in their adjoining seats clad in their sweaters, cardigans, and parkas and waited for Mikhail. After 5 minutes of listening to train announcements in Russian, Kayla sighed. "This is boring. Shall we play a game?" Reid looked confused. "Kayla pulled a notebook and said, "X and O?" Reid raised his eyebrows and said, "You'll lose. Also, don't forget the speakers-your defeat will be broadcast to both our teams _and_ Nikolai _and_ his officers." Kayla grinned. "We'll see about that."

 **X/ Team Kayla- wins=3 draws=7 loss=3**

 **O/Team Spencer- wins=3 draws=7 loss=3**

"See? I told you. I can defeat you." Kayla said and then tapped her earpiece.

"Stop fooling around, both of you! You are supposed to be on a case! Anyways, Mikhail just entered the train. He'll enter your car in a few seconds. Be ready. Also, Kayla, Great work defeating Reid." Jack said through the earpiece. "So, Reid, talk about something in a not-genius kind of manner." Kayla told him. Reid widened his eyes as he saw their car door opening. He quickly said, "So, Hon, where do you want to go on the honeymoon?" Kayla raised her eyebrows, but then saw Mikhail coming towards them and replied, "I don't know. But I do have a list in mind. Italy. Greece. Aruba. Istanbul. You choose." Reid heard everyone laughing very hard in his earpiece, especially Morgan and JJ. Emily knew what it was like to pretend to love someone for a case. Mikhail acknowledged them and took the seat opposite theirs. "Привет!"Reid said in a _**very**_ over exaggerated typical soviet-era Russian movie accent. "My name iz Spencer Reid, and zis iz my fiancée Kayla."

 _Translation: Hi!_

Mikhail looked amused listening to the accent. "I take it you're not Russian?"Kayla grinned. "Yeah. We're from America." Kayla waited for a response, but Mikhail was buried in his own thoughts. Reid tried to strike up a conversation, but Mikhail shut him down. Finally, Kayla put on her earphones and told Reid, "I think I'll settle for a nap. We're gonna be here for three whole hours. Wake me up when we reach there." And with that, Kayla slept.

Reid's cell beeped.

 **You have one new message.**

 **Emily: Did she really sleep?**

Reid checked her pulse rate without drawing attention to see if it was relaxed enough that she would be sleeping. It was not.

 **You: No. She's just acting.**

Finally, Mikhail struck up a conversation.

Mikhail: So, what are you and your... _fiancée_ doing in Russia?

Reid: Kayla's grandmother lives in Russia. We're here for her blessings for the big day.

Mikhail: Her grandmother?

Reid: Yeah... her grandfather left the country years ago to escape communism.

Mikhail eyed Kayla and then said, "I see."

Kayla woke up from her false sleep after hearing Reid and Mikhail's conversation. Mikhail seemed to be eager to talk to her now. "I see, you are of Russian descent?" Kayla nodded. Then the man with the food tray came in. "Sirs, Madam, what would like?" he asked. Mikhail shook his head. "Nothing for me. But do show your hospitality to these young Americans, though." With that, Mikhail got up and walked towards the men's' room. Reid hummed Beethoven's fifth symphony. Kayla fidgeted with her hair.

 **Standby teams POV**

Everyone held their breath when Mikhail went to the bathroom as the food trolley came. Something had to happen now; otherwise they would be back to square one. They would be, but fortunately and at the same time unfortunately, they heard Kayla shrieking, " _AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"_

"Emily, Jack, We are on standby on your orders. Tell us what to do." Matt said in a professional tone.

"Go on the train. Hurry, crowd," gathering all the Russian officers, "We go in, now HURRY!" Emily yelled

The train stopped and the teams positioned them around the car. A voice came in through a speaker from inside the train.

" **So, the FBI's wonder children, BAU and IRT, have failed. It has failed before me! Now, were you trying to** _ **bait**_ **me by sending in these two agents? I'm afraid I am not so stupid to fall in one of your traps. You see, in chess, the person who makes the second to last mistake always wins. Now, shall we play a game?"**


	8. Chapter 8

_What do we do now? What do we do now?_ Rang in Jack's ears. It was partially his fault Kayla and Reid were stuck in the train. This wasn't even in Kayla's job description-she wasn't trained to negotiate from the inside. But thankfully Reid knew something about this, what with Tobias Hankel and other people who'd kidnapped him.

"We have to find a way to establish communication with either of them. And _fast_." JJ said. Morgan's cell rang. "Garcia. Reid and Kayla are stuck in a really tight jam. Hope you've got something useful." Monty replied, "We just called to let you know that we are trying to hack all the devices present in that car in the train. Best of luck, guys."

Nikolai's face was scrunched up in worry. His phone rang. "Probably one of my seniors, wishing to know the reason of our unsuccessful bait. I'll have to handle this." And he went a little distance away to answer the call. " Yessir. The UnSub came to know of our plan. We are trying to negotiate with him now. Yes? You want to talk with one of the Americans? Ya, wait, I will give the phone to them." He walked towards the teams who were looking as though they had been possessed by ghosts. "My senior wants to talk to you. Also, I have to run to the station. Ok? Goodbye." And he went towards his car.

Emily talked to Nikolai's senior. "Yes. We are trying to get both of ours to safety." She nodded and listened to her senior. "So, if we have to and have no other choice, we kill the UnSub?...Hmm... Yes."

Then Morgan's cell rang again. "It's not Mikhail." Garcia said . "We hacked into the CCTV footage of the train car. Mikhail is still in the bathroom." JJ thought fast. "Then Garcia, can't you send him a message of what's going on and tell him to help from the inside?" she told her. "Yeah. Good idea, I will do that. PG out."

Mikhail flushed the toilet when his cell beeped.

 **You have 1 new message.**

 **Unknown number: Mr. Popov, this is the FBI. A killer just hijacked your train car and took 2 of our agents hostage. Could you peep into what's going on inside so our agents outside get an idea of the situation? NOTE: Please do not expose yourself, it could put your life at stake too.**

Mikhail sighed. He guessed the thin man and the blue-haired lady were the FBI agents. So, that meant that- FBI was _spying_ on him? _No, no,_ he thought, _I will help them- after all, I was the prime suspect-no surprise over there._ He tried to unlock the door very quietly and opened just enough so that he could see what was going on.

The food trolley man was holding a gun to an unconscious Kayla and a calm Reid. His phone rang and he picked it up. "Yes, boss, what should I do with people now?... Yes boss."

He took up his phone and messaged

 **You: The blue haired lady is unconscious; I can't tell whether she is injured or not. The man is OK. But the man holding the gun to his head is just a muscle for hire. He was now talking to his boss.**

Garcia sent this message to the teams waiting outside. "Mr. UnSub, We need to talk to our agents. Please." Emily yelled through a speaker. "NO! NO!" came a voice from inside "You can't! You won't!"

Jack grabbed the speaker and said: "Look, we just want to talk to our agents-make sure they're safe. It's standard protocol."They could here grunting on the other side of the speaker. " . But if you talk about anything else, I have my gun ready."

"Hello?" Reid said. "Reid! Are you and Kayla alright?!" JJ yelled through the speaker. "Yeah. I'm good. Kayla's unconscious though. But before she blacked out, she told me to tell you guys one thing: 'I was Right'. I hope Em and Jack know what that means. Bye."


	9. Chapter 9

"What are we waiting for? Let's get to work on what Kayla meant by that!" Morgan exclaimed. Emily and Jack shared a look. "We already know what she's talking about."

 **In the train:**

 **Mikhail decided to see what was going outside again. Now he could see the man who worked for someone, and saw that his boss had arrived too. The inferior- he saw was a man he had often met- at the support group- Albert Ivanov. The boss, he could not see, was wearing a ski mask. He messaged all this to the number he had been contacted from.**

"When we had had that midnight meeting, Reid and Kayla had stayed behind and told their suspicions about Nikolai Petrov. Among the people from the support group, Nikolai's name was there too, but Kayla and Reid did not tell anyone right away, because at that time, we did not have any forensic evidence that could put Nikolai behind bars, and revealing that information would put him on the guard. He fits the profile- when he mentioned he had come to America for university, he had been staying at his late grandfather's house, his grandfather, who had left him. He was independant, became a police officer. Then at Mark Berns' crime scene, Kayla deducted that the man was approximately 5'10, and had an SUV. Nikolai's police car is an SUV." Jack told them as everyone stared at him dumbfounded.

"He just left here." Morgan told him wide-eyed. "I know. I placed a tracker on him. I know exactly where he is." Emily told with a tired smile. Morgan raised his eyebrows, "Where is he?" Emily sighed and nodded towards the train, "In there. It fits with the message Mikhail just sent us."

"So what do we do now? You _could_ have told us, you know?! We could've prevented this from happening!" JJ yelled, "Now Reid's stuck in there!" she was near to tears. "You knew it was Nikolai. Why didn't you tell us?" Morgan asked her in a _not_ -calm voice. "Because that would've meant that we have _no_ proof against him. Emily and Jack were trying to catch a criminal here!" Rossi said defending his friend and surrogate daughter. "You guys know better than anyone that we _had_ to do this. JJ- you suggested baiting him yourself."

"So if he knew we were baiting him, why did he attack?" JJ asked, now calm.

"He wasn't getting the attention. His seniors did not want any involvement of media in this. He wanted to create this stalemate position. If we move our piece, he'll kill Reid and Kayla, if he moves his, he'll be dead" Matt said, gesturing to the snipers who had now surrounded the train, "and, he'll get media attention anyways.

"So now that we are in a stalemate, what do we do? Mae asked.

Emily and Jack shared a look and smiled evilly. "Oh no. We aren't in a stalemate. We just checkmated him." Emily said with a smug face. "When Reid and Kayla told us, we planted something on him. We tell him to return Reid and Kayla, give us the location of Mark Berns' son and ex-wife, otherwise- _ka-boom!_ "

" **Nikolai Petrov!"** Morgan said through the speaker, " **We know that it's you. It is not too late to turn back now! Send both of our agents back now, and tell us where Mark Berns' son and ex-wife are."**

Nikolai Petrov replied from inside, " **I seem to have lost my hearing! Why would I do that?! I made the second to last mistake by calling you here. I win!"** and more evil-witch cackling.

Inside the train, Reid smiled- things were going according to the plan- only Kayla had got hurt badly. Reid hoped she woke up. He heard Morgan further say. **"Oh no, Petrov. If you value your life, you will do as we ask. Otherwise,** _ **ka-boom!"**_ as if on cue, a small explosion lit up one side of the train car. **"The next explosion, Petrov, will be ON you."**

Nikolai started gasping and muttering gibberish under his breath, then grabbing the speaker, he yelled, **"OK! OK! You win!"**

* * *

"One bruised eye and sprained wrist. You got off easy." Mae told Reid as he and Kayla sat in the back of a police car trying desparately to get rid of Mae's shock blanket. "Don't resist the blanket and stuff." He heard Kayla say suddenly beside him. "Use it for sympathy." Reid gave her an amused grin. "Get some special treatment. What's wrong in that?" Reid smiled and said, "It's a little rough. Besides, I like the one with foil better." Kayla laughed, then stuck her tongue out for Mae who was now examining her. "Kids- let's just get home." Mae told them, "what are your plans? I was thinking of having some fun now that everything is over." Reid sighed. "Yeah. But what happened to the son and ex-wife?"

"The son and ex-wife were found at Nikolai's house." Jack said joining in the conversation. "They are at the hospital as we speak. As for Mae, I think all of us are going to join in on that fun."

Reid and Kayla looked at Nikolai and his accessory in crime, Albert Ivanov being led away in cuffs. Kayla walked towards Nikolai and said, "You see, Nikolai- you did not make the second to last mistake- you made the last one- calling the IRT and BAU. We're kind of experts at kicking criminal ass."


End file.
